IDNO

P.9376.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Canoe with mat sails, Mabuiag.” [typed text, circa 1935]
“1888.” [manuscript in pencil].

View from the back of a Torres Strait canoe beached at Mabuiag with two mat sails raised and men standing and sitting within the canoe tending to oars, sails, ropes in order to demonstrate how the canoe is sailed. In the background are three hills. [Jude Philp 23/2/1999, from record N.22778.ACH2, updated JD 5/4/2011]

Demonstration of a traditional canoe under sail. Several men with their backs to the camera are tending to oars, sails, ropes etc. [Jude Philp 9/2/2000, from record P.23357.ACH2, JD 5/4/2011]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mabuiag [Mabuyag]

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Photographer

Haddon, Alfred Cort

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort [Torres Strait, 1888 - 1889]

Date

18 September 1888 - 26 October 1888

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Archive: Referenced in notebook titled ‘List of Torres-Straits Photographs. 1888 - 1889. A.C. Haddon’, “56 B. Canoe with mat sails, foreshortened. Mabuiag.” [JD 20/4/2011]

Photographer: The Photographer was previously recorded as “Wilkin.Anthony” but he was the photographer for Haddon’s 1898 - 1899 Expedition. The Photographer field has been amended to show A.C. Haddon. [JD 5/4/2011]

Collection Name: The Collection Name field was previously recorded as being “Torres Strait Island Expedition; Mounted Haddon Collection”, but as this photograph was taken in 1888 this is incorrect. The Collection Name field has been amended accordingly. [JD 5/4/2011]

Related Archive: Image listed on Dr McNab’s list of Haddon’s 1888 photographs (OA2/16/17), as ‘56 Mabuiag canoe with sails’.

Publication: Roman numerals on the inscription of P.23329.ACH2 refer to printed version of this photograph in the Reports IV.

Date: Haddon arrived at Mabuiag 18/9/1888 and left 26/10/1888 (Journal 1888: 41-62). [J. Philp 23/2/1999]

Publication: Image reproduced in Reports IV: Plate XXVI, fig. 1 with accompanying description and detailing of indigenous technical terms. [J. Philp 23/2/1999]

MAA Exhibition: Same image paired with P.9375.ACH1 included in 1920s Exhibition Case Binders "Cases 5-10. Torres Strait." (OA2/16/4) and captioned: “24. Double-outrigger canoe with probably the last mat sails ever used. Mabuiag, 1888.
The hull is a dugout with a narrow wash strake.
The two booms of the outrigger are connected with the float by means of two pairs of sticks, on them is a central platform with crates at each side. The rig of the sails is peculiar to Torres Straits. The crew are standing in their proper stations.
25. The same canoe showing figure-head.
At the starboard bow is a lee-board kept in place by a bamboo lashed outside the hull.
Vol. IV, pp. 205-213.
Photo. taken 1888 by A.C. Haddon." [JD 08/09/2021]

Bibliographical Reference: Haddon sustained an interest in canoes throughout his academic career culminating in Haddon and Hornell 1936-8. [J. Philp 23/2/1999]